Changing Minds
by Erik's Rose
Summary: What if Monica changed her mind. Set at the end of TOW Monica and Richard are just friends
1. Chapter 1

What if Monica changed her mind? Set at the end of TOW Monica and Richard are just friends.

Richard swallowed. He wanted to be Monica's boyfriend again. He wanted everything she'd just suggested. Wanted them to be together, wanted to share his life with her, wanted to marry her. However, he still didn't want kids. It was true she hadn't had that in her list of what they should do, but he knew how she felt. She wanted to be a mom, and he couldn't give her that.

He looked up at her. She was on his lap with hope in her eyes.

"You know we're back where we were? Honey, I would love to do all that. But nothing's changed."

"Thant's not true." She gestured to his face. "You don't have a moustache." He laughed slightly.

"Okay, okay one thing's changed." He held her close for a moment before looking at her again. "But we still want different things and you know how this is going to end." Monica seemed to think for a minute.

"You know what." She got up from his lap. "The way I see it, one of two things is going to happen here." She turned to him and spread her arms in front of her. "Either, we go our separate ways while you look for a woman who wants what you want and I look for a man who wants children or, I do what I should have done before." Richard frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Richard, I love you. It took me six years to find you and I don't think I can wait another six years to find someone who wants what I want." She started to pace and Richard just sat and followed her with his eyes. "Recently I've been thinking about my life and how great it is. And about a month ago it struck me." She stopped pacing and turned to Richard. "I don't want a baby." Richard blinked then sighed.

"Yes you do Mon."

"No. I don't. I love my life. I love being organised; I love my apartment being clean. I like things tidy and clear. I can't have a baby it would be messy, and dirty and loud. When I picture myself with a baby, I go crazy. When I picture myself with you…" Monica knelt in front of Richard and looked into his eyes. Needing him to understand. "When I picture myself with you, the bassinet isn't there anymore, and I'm happy." Richard swallowed hard. He took Monica's hands in his own.

"Listen, Monica. I love you more than anything. I want to be with you. Live with you. Marry you and grow old with you. Even though I'm already kinda old." He smiled and Monica laughed. "But, I need you to really think about this. I don't want children Monica, I'm a grandpa. I need you to be sure about what you want. If you don't want a baby that's great, we can be together. If you do want a baby someday, we can't be together. I can't take that dream away from you. I'd only end up making you unhappy." Monica nodded.

"If you want me to be sure, paint a picture for me. Look five years into the future if we stay together and tell me what you see." Richard looked up for a moment.

"Okay. I see us eating breakfast together. Talking about what we're going to do. My kids are gonna come over with their kids and we're going to spend the day with them." Richard looked down at Monica. "You'd be a stepmom Monica. Two grown up kids, one you used to be friends with. They have kids. Can you see them and not wish you had one?" Monica smiled.

"I know it sounds weird, But I think I'd rather be a grandma then a mom. I see it that, this way I get to have grandkids and fun with them, but I get to give them back and have you to myself. I can have all the fun of being a grandma without having to be a mom. I love that idea." Richard pulled her up and looked into her eyes.

"Really Monica?" He was hoping against hope. "Can you really do this? If not tell me now."

"I can do It Richard." She shook her head and smiled, "But more than that, I _want _to." She wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him. Richard smiled and said softly.

"Okay." Monica pulled back to look at him.

"Okay?"

"Okay. Let's do it. Let's be together. Let's be…exclusive friends." He grinned. She grinned back and hugged him.

"I love you Doctor Burke."

"I love you Monica Geller."

**A/N Not sure I like how this worked out. Any thoughts? I may continue if people want, but for now it's a questionable one- shot.**


	2. Chapter 2

"I thought we were going to do this now."

"I just want you to be sure."

"I am sure!"

"I'm not." Richard sighed. "I need you to be 100% sure about this Monica. I don't want us to be together and then you wake up one morning and regret not being a mom."

"Fine." Monica sighed throwing up her hands. "So what exactly do I have to do?"

"You have to babysit Ben over the weekend. And I want you to spend the rest of the week imagining having Ben all the time and I mean really picture it Monica. Imagine never having to give him back, imagine he's yours. Imagine the good things like him loving you and doing things together as well as the bad things like tantrums and teething."

"He's not a baby anymore Richard."

"I know but if we're going to do this properly you have to imagine having a baby as well as a toddler and the dreaded teens."

"So, let me get this straight. I have a week to imagine birth to kicking them out to go to college when they're eighteen?" Richard chuckled.

"In a nutshell, Mon?" He shrugged. "Yeah that's pretty much the deal." Monica nodded then sat down on the couch. Richard sat next to her.

"You really need to do this sweetheart. And I need to you to really imagine it and analyse your feelings. If you get broody I need you to tell me. If your biological clock has wound down that's great. If it hasn't we have to do what's best for both of us. I don't ever want you to convince yourself you don't want something."

"So," Monica said softly, "I have a week to pretend I'm a mom and then we talk huh?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Okay. See you in a week." She pecked him on the lips and left. Richard sighed and poured himself a drink. It was going to be a long week. He wanted nothing more than to be with Monica, but there was no way he could do it without being sure they wanted the same things.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Monica wrung her hands. Carol placed a hand on Monica's shoulder.

"Monica, its fine. It's not like your some stranger asking to look after Ben, you're his aunt."

"Yeah, plus it'll give us a weekend off which, while we adore Ben, is nice to have now and again." Susan said smiling as she gathered up Ben's favourite toys in his bag.

"I really appreciate this guys." She said smiling.

"It's our pleasure." Susan smiled. "Don't hesitate to call though if you feel your sanity hanging by a thread." She laughed. Monica smiled.

"That's okay. If that happens I'll scream down the phone at Ross and he'll come to rescue Ben." All three laughed.

"Okay, all set." Susan said brightly.

"Ready to go pick up your weekend surrogate son?" Carol asked Monica. Monica took a deep breath and nodded. She was going with Carol and Susan to pick up ben from school then take him home to babysit until the Sunday afternoon when Carol and Susan would have him back.

On the way in the car Monica looked at how she felt so far. She was looking forward to having Ben for the weekend but was worried about whether or not she'd be able to do it on her own. It was true Rachel would be there but she had her own plans and Monica was meant to be experiencing this on her own. Although she had never planned on being a single mother, she knew that there would be days she'd be on her own for the majority of the time. Parental leave for men was still fairly new and not many places offered it. She decided to wait until she actually had Ben on her own to seriously see how she felt.

**(A/N Just thought I'd mention here I'm going to do snippets from this experience rather than do the whole thing. I think if I did it would take too long and drag the story a bit. Sorry if you're disappointed but there it is. Enjoy)**

"Are you seriously okay, Mon?"

"Ross, stop fussing I'll be fine. I have your number if I really need help. This is not the first time I'm looking after your son." Ross was in full, over protective parent role. While slightly endearing it was stating to grate on Monica's nerves.

"Okay just, remember to take his coat if you go out, and make sure he's dry and he's not hungry and that he's happy and let him watch TV, but not too much. Oh and remember…"

"Dear god Ross! Let Aunt Monica do her job she's not eleven she can look after Ben!" Rachel burst out. Monica smiled gratefully at her friend. Ross swallowed and smiled in apology.

"I'm sorry Mon. It's just; you've never had Ben on your own for so long. I guess I'm just a little paranoid. In know how much you love him and that you'll call if you need to." Monica smiled and nodded.

"Okay Ross. Now you need to go. You have geeky scientist stuff to do." Ross picked up his coat and left, obviously fighting hard not to give any advice. Rachel turned to smile at Monica.

"So Mon, think you're up for it?" Monica looked over at Ben who was colouring on the floor of the living room, his crayons spread out around him.

"I guess we'll find out!"


End file.
